Okay wrote a quick demo:
[highlight=vb.net]
Private Function ReadIPAddress() As String
Dim myIp As String = ""
Dim IPreq As Net.HttpWebRequest = CType(Net.WebRequest.Create("http://www.domaintools.com/research/my-ip/myip.xml/"), Net.HttpWebRequest)
Using IPresp As Net.HttpWebResponse = CType(IPreq.GetResponse, Net.HttpWebResponse)
Using XmlRead As New XmlTextReader(IPresp.GetResponseStream)
XmlRead.ReadToFollowing("ip_address")
myIp = XmlRead.ReadContentAsString
End Using
End Using
Return myIp
End Function
[/highlight]